Comedy Actress

Will Lupita Nyongo and Barkhad Abdi join 15 Oscar winners for film debuts?

Both Lupita Nyongo (“12 Years a Slave“) and Barkhad Abdi (“Captain Phillips“) have earned Oscar nominations for their feature film debuts, making this the first time in 17 years that two actors have done so. The last time was Edward Norton (“Primal Fear”) and Emily Watson (“Breaking the Waves”) in 1996; if their careers are any indication, Nyongo and Abdi have a lot to look forward to regardless of the Oscar results.

Unfortunately for Abdi, Oscar isn’t nearly as fond of male newcomers. If he can overcome his steep 50/1 odds to win Best Supporting Actor, he will join only three other fellows who won for their screen debuts, all of them also in the supporting category: